Of Redemption and Affection
by MysteryEarth
Summary: Meet Kawanishi Taiga, a short-tempered pinch server with a scarred past. Meet Nishinoya Yuu, Karasuno Volleyball Team's Guardian Deity. Both have issues with their lives but hold the solutions for other one. They quarrel all the time but they make a good team. And it all started with a "one-man army" t-shirt. In which a Tigress joins the ranks of Crows.
1. Chapter 1:A Chance Meeting

**Summary:** Meet Kawanishi Taiga, a short-tempered pinch server with a scarred past. Meet Nishinoya Yuu, Karasuno Volleyball Team's Guardian Deity. They quarrel all the time but they make a good team. And it all started with a "one-man army" t-shirt. In which a Tigress joins the ranks of Crows.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Haikyuu!, by the way, y'know, if you ever get confused about it.

Thanks to LittleWordsOnKites for beta-ing my story!

 **Chapter1: A Chance Meeting**

Text Message from 'Mother'

' _Don't forget your appointment with Dr. Nox tomorrow, honey. I love you.'_

Taiga huffed in irritation, her brown bangs blowing with her breath, as she kept looking at her cell phone's screen, like if she dug a hole through the device everything was going to be solved.

Yeah, right. Like that would work. But maybe somewhere deep inside, some tiny part of her genuinely hoped so. After all, no teenager enjoyed spending two hours with a psychiatrist every two weeks, or having their appointment with said specialist reminded to them by their mother, in the form of a pressuring text message.

Her mother knew very well that Taiga was reluctant about the therapy sessions, and she wanted to ensure that her daughter did her best to get better. No matter how frustrated it would make Taiga.

Now, she could feel a much too familiar stinging sensation sneaking up on her shoulders, much too humiliatingly; a right-on-time reminder why she was receiving psychiatry treatment in the first place. And if the pain got worse, she knew she was going to have to lie in bed all day.

So Taiga tried to calm herself, breathing through her nose. Her phone was kind of important and not exactly cheap. So she gave up on the digging a hole thing and erased the message from local memory, for once. Then she thought about the one thing she was looking forward to, which being the martial arts practice in an hour. She tried to imagine that satisfactory feeling of beating someone much bigger than herself, the feeling on her palm when she successfully hit a weak area on opponent's body.

Not like her bad mood was completely gone, but she wasn't explosively anxious anymore. She started packing for her training session, realized that she was missing some things since she had just moved in with her grandparents. Like a proper water bottle and a stack of t-shirts. So she decided to take a quick trip to Karasuno Shopping Center before heading to practice.

Thus, half an hour later she was in front of the mall, wearing jeans, a grey hoody and a red sports hat. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and was concealed under both hat and hoody.

Usually, just pulling the hood over her head made the girl invisible in crowd since she was on the short side. But today, with sports hat also covering a part of her face, she felt extra comfortable. She didn't see people's faces and people couldn't see her. Though it was a bit hot in this late March.

 _Oh, there!_

As soon as she arrived at clothes section, she eyed the corner where they keep the kind of t-shirts she liked to wear. A couple of days ago, she hadn't had enough money on her but she had been thinking of buying the one that was written 'one-man army'* on the back. She walked there happily -this seemed to be the last one, how lucky she was-, grabbed the hanger but… she felt a resistance.

When she looked up and saw a boy, just a tad taller than herself, holding the other end of the hanger; for some reason, she knew she was in trouble.

* * *

Now, Nishinoya Yuu might seem like a quarrelsome person. He is very temperamental; he doesn't bother to filter his words and blurts out what he thinks. He is very excitable, yes. But that doesn't mean that he just picks fights out of nowhere or doesn't respect other people. Just the opposite, in fact.

Nishinoya fought when it was necessary and he gave people the respect they deserved, especially his upperclassmen -no matter how wimpy they may be, like a particular one he had had some problems going on-, and of course he expected the same kind of respect from his underclassmen.

That's why he felt really annoyed about the fact that a brat with a fancy sports hat didn't seem to be letting go of the "one-man army" shirt; the t-shirt, which he really liked to wear and his only consolation in these days as he was suspended from school and banned from club.

Brat was shorter than the libero so it was only natural that Noya thought of _*him*_ as a middle schooler. It was hard to find a high school boy who was shrter than him, after all. So it was perfectly natural that he expected said middle schooler to give up the shirt.

Also, Nishinoya still retained a bit of his anger from his still fresh confrontation with Asahi and that meant he was kind-of in a bad mood.

So libero didn't really tried to ask nicely when he said "Hey, you mind?"

"I claimed it first" brat answered. His voice was very girly, too. Maybe he was actually an elementary student?

Nishinoya pulled harder, so did brat. And heck, he was stronger than libero had expected. Soon after, it was a tug-of-hanger war.

"Look kid, you probably don't get it but I'm a high school student, which means I'm a senpai to you. Got it? Go, find yourself another T-shirt." Nishinoya said, as little veins popped in his head.

"In your dreams."

Yeah, he was asking for it. So Nishinoya just let go of the hanger and let the smartass brat thrown back. However, instead of falling on his back in a comical manner like libero though he would, shorter boy made a perfect somersault turn and landed on _her_ feet.

 **Wait.**

 **Her?**

"Weren't you a boy?!"

Imagine Nishinoya's horror when hat flew off her head and brown hair fell off her shoulders. He would never think of doing something like that to a girl no matter how disrespectful of a brat she would behave. Also how was she able to do a somersault like that and balance herself?

"Are you OK, miss?"

As expected, that would attract attention.

Brunette girl ignored employee's question and gave Nishinoya a glare that could make a normal man piss their pants. Before libero could say something, however, her eyes darted to something else on the floor. Noya followed her line of sight and in that moment both teenagers dashed towards the T-shirt that was sprawled on the floor between them.

Of course, there was no way Nishinoya would lose in this match. He dived after the item with the perfect form honed through his volleyball career as a libero and of course got back on his feet very quickly after catching it.

Noya smirked and his eyes shined with trump as he lived the refreshing feeling that is to look down on someone, not to mention after a complete victory.

"Close" he said, dealing the finishing blow and then sprinted to the cash point before the girl could get up and attack him. Because he could feel the killing intent ooze from her, and honestly? Nishinoya wasn't sure he could beat that girl in a fistfight.

And yes he meant it.

He didn't know who that girl was but she gave the impression of a dangerous tigress.

 **A/N:**

*: In manga, when Nishinoya made his debut and received Kageyama's serve, the kanji written on his shirt is "one-man army". And the time of this chapter is a while before he returns to the school and club activities so, yeah that makes sense .

Also, the names.

The kanji in Nishinoya's name are _West, valley_ and _evening_. Asahi and Nishinoya are foils and their personalities and even the kanji in their names are contrasting each other. (Azumane Asahi, _East, peak, morning sun_ )

So I made Taiga's name to have a common kanji with Nishinoya's, since I plan her character to be similar to him in some aspects.

The kanji in Kawanishi (川 西) are _River and west._ River symbolizes her fiery character and also rivers can be in valleys :) And 'Nishi, _west'_ is the same kanji as Nishinoya. Taiga is the Japanese pronunciation of the word 'tiger'.

What did you think about the chapter? Tell me in your reviews :)


	2. Chapter 2: A Libero's Awesomeness

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Haikyuu!. Do we need to do this every chapter? I'm seriously asking. ****

 **Chapter 2: A Libero's Awesomeness**

If there were an "ultimate play" in volleyball, it would involve scoring all 25 points with only serves. Not even giving your opponent the chance to attack, that's what it means to hit a service ace. ~Shimada Makoto

 **Taiga**

My job is to change the momentum of the game.

In the last parts of a set, when everyone is drained physically and mentally, the player they rely on is I, the pinch server; like the hero who comes out at the eleventh hour. And my weapon is serve, the ultimate form of attack, which won't be caught by the human wall that known as block.

Some say, in volleyball, where it's important to connect with your teammates, serve is the only solitary play where you can score on your own. But I don't agree with that. You can only come out on the court if your teammates earn you the right of serving. Moreover, when you serve, you hit the ball for your teammates.

That's why I never forget those lines. Those extremely calming words, uttered to me many times by my best friends and rival, just before I do my serve toss.

 **"Don't worry. You just get it over the net. If they receive it and an attack comes, I will definitely save it."**

* * *

''Moshi moshi. Hi mom. Yeah, I'm fine. How are you?"

As Taiga answered her mom, she wanted to roll her eyes at her own pointless answer. The word 'fine' was rarely used honestly, after all. It was just a stereotyped lie, because hiding the truth was easier and usually both sides knew this but they pretended.

Like current situation; because Taiga knew her mother didn't believe that she was fine, not even one bit. That's why the older woman kept calling her two times a day, spoke with her psychiatrists and followed her therapy sessions way too closely, asked to be reported of little details. If her mother had really believed Taiga was really fine, she wouldn't be so anxiously trying to keep tabs on the young girl.

And apparently, the woman had no idea that she was actually making it worse for her daughter; the reason Taiga wanted to live with her grandparents' in Miyagi, rather than with her parents in Tokyo.

As Taiga listened her mother go on, she kept looking around her room for a clean pair of socks. She went through sprawled clothes and books on the floor, picked up Guyton's Physiology and placed it on the bookshelf while she was at it, and finally managed to find a matching, clean pair under some of her magazines.

"Sure, my room is perfectly organized." she answered and completed the sentence inwardly _'in its own way'_.

It isn't like she was lying to her mother. It was just easier to use her room like this for Taiga, so the girl didn't bother to make it neat and tidy. She also liked the game of ' _trying to move around without stepping on anything'_.

After Taiga somehow managed to get dressed, she went to kitchen for cartoon milk and a leftover toast from yesterday morning and it proved difficult to talk on the phone and eat at the same time.

"Mom, I'm getting late. I will call you after I got out from 's. Bye."

She hung up.

At 11 o'clock, she was outside of her doctor's office and had two hours to go to dojo. Their session was... well, not bad, maybe.

After small talk, Dr. Nox had asked about the school Taiga enrolled for the second year of high school. Transfer process was done and she was going to start at Monday. If there was one thing she looked forward to about her new school, it was the uniforms. Taiga liked them, much better than the _sailor fuku*_ she wore in junior high. Boys' uniforms were much cooler, though; black gakuran. Gakurans were so cool; male students were lucky to be able to wear it.

After school stuff and a bunch of other things about getting accustomed to her new environment after approximately one month, Doctor Nox had advised that she kept practicing martial arts; because it helped with her anger management, exercising regularly had a lot of mental and physical benefits etc. Taiga didn't intend to quit anyways; it was one thing that helped her stay sane, after all.

Doctor had also asked Taiga about the pain in her shoulders. When the girl answered that they were still persistent, he had so kindly repeated a bunch of suggestions from before. Well, guess what? She had already done all of those. She had done them, but the damn pain was still there, creeping up on her in most convenient times to remind her that she was crazy. That was why the pain was persistent, genius.

"Are you really trying to come to terms with that incident two years ago, Taiga? Can you say with confidence that you're genuinely trying to let it go? Don't put up mental barriers. The only reason your shoulders hurt, is you"

And with that, Dr. Nox had finished their session after two unproductive hours that left a bad taste in her mouth. Brunette girl stood outside of his office, too washed-up to call her mom like promised, she decided to take a stop at the park near, before heading to practice.

And she met trouble.

More correctly, she saw trouble and walked right into it.

But come on, there was no way she could just go on her way like nothing was wrong when a group of dangerous looking, hoodlum-like young men were bullying four-five-six, six poor children.

The kids were obviously scared but they were trying to fight back, saying "But we came here first and we waited all morning just to use the volley court."

And scumbags were making fun of them, "So what? It isn't like you shrimps can practice for real. Why don't you guys just make way for your senpai, huh?"

 _Scumbag no.1._ Taiga named him.

 _Bleached hair. He bullies kids and thinks he has right on something because he is a senpai. Reminds me of the jerk I encountered at the shopping center the other day._

And in the next second, Taiga moved in front of the taller boy and snatched volleyball from his hands, effectively surprising him.

"Huh? Where did you sprout from, brat?"

Oh seriously, why did everyone in Miyagi think she was a brat? Was it because she wore a hoody two sizes big, or because she was 1.58 cm tall, which, by the way was perfectly on average?

"You," Taiga spoke in a low voice to threaten him in the scariest way possible, but as she continued, her voice got lost in a male's roar that came out of nowhere.

"You guys dare to cause problems for little children, huh?"

"Guess we will have to teach you guys a lesson."

Taiga turned back to look for the source of voice and saw the familiar but unpleasant face of a short, dark brown spiky haired boy, along with a bald companion.

* * *

Nishinoya hadn't been expecting his weekend morning to take a shape like this when he had gone to Ryuu's place, so he could chat some and learn about one week he had been suspended; he was returning to school in two days, after all.

Boys decided not to pass their time at home on a nice spring morning so they went out for a stroll in the park. They even brought a volleyball with them, in case they wanted to play around a bit. Just when they were heading back, Ryuu saw the scene first and nudged his short friend lightly. It seemed like some guys were causing trouble for a group of kids.

Without much words exchanged, both boys entered their 'cool and brave senpai' mode and made their way towards the battlefield.

"You guys dare to cause problems for little children, huh?" Ryuu said.

And Nishinoya added.

"Guess we will have to teach you guys a lesson."

Then he saw _her_. "Oh, you are from that time!"

How great was this, Taiga thought. Mother Nature was finally recognizing the hardships she endured and giving her not only the chance of putting a group of scumbags to their place, but also opportunity to get revenge on that jerk from the shopping store.

However, scumbags came first in this situation. So, for the time being, Taiga settled with giving him the nastiest glare she could muster. To her chagrin, he didn't even flinch; on the contrary he looked like he actually enjoyed the situation.

"Yo! We met again." He greeted her, and then he directed his eyes to the dangerous looking group behind her "Are you in trouble?"

"You're the one who is in trouble." Taiga answered narrowing her yes, "You're not running away this time. I will definitely beat you for the other day after I deal with these guys."

Nishinoya couldn't help but snorted; this girl was so funny, talking about beating guys and all. He was someone who appreciated braveness and while her behavior was commendable, he couldn't let a girl like her take part in what was sure to give way to a punch up.

"OK, I will listen to what you have to say after Ryuu and I deal with those guys, so why don't you step aside for now? He said to her.

''Huh? Why the hell would I step aside?'' Taiga asked, frowning.

''Isn't it obvious? Because you are a girl.''

"Look, I'm not stepping aside so you better not get in my way."

''Haah? More like _you_ don't get in our way!''

Before Taiga could talk back to that, however, Scumbag no.1 spoke up "Hey now. You heard, guys? These two midgets say something about dealing with us."

As Taiga took a break from the squabble and immediately turned to the guy, she realized the boy did the same, brows furrowed and several veins popping on his head, the same way as her. Simultaneously, they shouted:

"Huh? You wanna fight, bastard?"

Poor children were long forgotten at this point by both parties, and they were watching from a bit away, with terrified expressions on their faces.

Scumbag No.1 came up with a suggestion, then. "Hey now, why don't we settle this with a little volleyball, huh? Three-on-three."

 _No way._

There was no way Taiga could play volleyball. Not when just hearing the offer made her shoulders ache suddenly and made her body go rigid. Just thinking about playing volleyball _again,_ made a lot of flashbacks surface in her mind and keeping her face from contorting with panic became a difficult task.

No, she would just beat all scumbags; her martial arts training would come in handy, and that would be way easier.

"We accept, let's do it."

"Yosh! Bring it on."

Well, apparently, boys were thinking otherwise.

She turned to the short boy as she asked through gritted teeth.

"Why do you accept without asking me? Don't be ridiculous, idiot. I don't even play volleyball in the first place."

"Huh? Then why do you have volleyball shoes?" The boy pointed the white and black shoes dangling from her backpack, a well-known brand too.

They were definitely volleyball shoes, _her old volleyball shoes_ , but Taiga was just using them in the martial arts practice because she was still lacking a new damn pair.

"I haven't played for a long time." She explained, her voice lowering without her realizing and her eyes looking away. "I quitted volleyball some time ago."

"Is that so?" the boy seemed a bit surprised to hear that but shook it off and continued nonchalantly, "Well, then you might be a bit out of shape but that's fine as long as you can do the basics."

He was bumping the volleyball up and down all the while talking to her; effortlessly, like the ball was an extension of his arms. Taiga felt her patience running dangerously low.

"Hey, you just don't understand. I can't pla-"

"Don't worry." he cut her off with a smirk. "As long as I'm here, ball will not drop on our side. By the way my name is Nishinoya. I play libero."

Taiga stood there, jaw dropped, eyes slightly wide as the boy, Nishinoya, kept talking, introducing his friend to her

"And this is my friend Ryuu. He is also a first class player, right Ryuu?"

She distantly wondered if he knew how crazy it sounded.

Going over the facts -you know, just to be sure-, they were three people. Nishinoya and this Ryuu person seemed to be close friends, and Taiga was a complete stranger who was cross with the former. It was funny, if not crazy, to think that they could play volleyball together. You know, a game that is all about connecting.

But Nishinoya was…

Was he really?

He was reliable.

Somehow.

Thinking about it, this boy was probably a good player; considering all the bruises on his arms and legs, his agility, his perfect dive at the shopping center the other day, his ball handling and most importantly the way his eyes sparkled with pride when he declared he was a libero.

That specific spark reminded Taiga of an old memory, old but still painfully clear somewhere in her mind.

And the other boy -was his name Ryuu?-, had a fairly good physical build. He would be a wing spiker, if Taiga were to guess.

So she guessed, Nishinoya wasn't completely crazy. It wasn't impossible, was it? She hadn't even touched a volleyball for two years but before that, she had been an over-all good player in a powerful team.

She still wanted to get back at the annoying libero for that t-shirt incident but currently she hated Scumbags more, so why not?

"Hey, say something. Or are you too scared?" Nishinoya taunted.

Then a swift kick to his legs made him wail "Ouch! Hey!"

It was just an instinct for Taiga, really. When she was cornered, she would attack. Simple. And this boy had put his finger on a delicate matter for the girl; probably without realizing and as a provocation more than anything but still. She **was** scared.

All memories, good and bad, were rushing at her, after two years, in which she had steadily pushed those memories into the back of her mind. This was scaring her, terrifying her, making her shoulders throb with mental fears but at the same time, she found herself wanting to try playing for once, in a weird paradoxical way.

"That was for provoking me" Taiga explained the kick matter-of-factly. "And I have a name, Kawanishi Taiga. If we are going to deal with those guys, I can make a temporary truce. Only temporary, though." She emphasized the last part.

His trademark grin appearing on his face, Nishinoya said, "Yoroshku. ***** "

Then she turned to the other boy, Ryuu, and both sides gave each other a tentative nod.

Well, Taiga kind of had been threatening his friend all the time, so she perfectly understood baldy's mistrust. Willing to clear up a part of that, mainly because they were about to play a sport all about connecting with teammates, she tried to be nice.

"I'm looking forward to play with you."

"Yeah, same here. By the way, name is Tanaka Ryuunosuke." Tanaka answered.

It was expectedly awkward. Not that Tanaka was a bad guy; on the contrary he seemed like a good person but Taiga was not the friendliest person around.

She was bad-tempered and often stiffened around people. Also, suffering from psychosomatic shoulders and receiving psychiatric treatment for the last two years –hating every second of it with passion-, helped a lot.

So, when Nishinoya intervened, saying something about warming up, she felt grateful. But at the same time, as the pain in her right shoulder flared, she felt like she had bit more than she could chew.

* * *

"Nice kill!" both Nishinoya and Taiga exclaimed as Tanaka got a second block-wipe from the other team. Taiga gave another small but relieved sigh. It was going better than she expected. Much better. The aching in her shoulders was bearable since she had the opportunity to pop up two pills without no one realizing, before they had started the match.

Their opponents were below average, to be frank. And both Nishinoya and Tanaka were playing quite skillfully, she noted. In the short warm-up right before the match, she was assigned the role of setting –she had played setter in her former team, anyways-, and they had practiced a bit with Tanaka. Of course they were not perfect, but as long as she refrained from extreme tosses –not that she could give a toss like that right after two years without practice- and went with average, textbook plays they would be fine; since Tanaka handled the blockers well.

Next, she made a successful dump attack, increasing their lead. "Nice, Kawanishi-san!" Tanaka complimented.

"Thanks." she answered.

It was much simpler to communicate with people like this, through something common. Speaking was not vexing like it would be in daily life when she shouted; "Nice receive!" to Nishinoya. And smiling was actually possible as she lifted the toss for Tanaka.

Their next offense got blocked. Well, that was expected. There was no way to thwart opponents' block after all; since the main offensive force was Tanaka, they were focusing their blocks around him.

Nishinoya was obviously out of question and Taiga… Well, she could hit spikes too, theoretically but she was unlikely to be successful against blocks with her height and unimpressive jump.  
She always hated blocks, anyways. Certainly, there were many ways to fight with blocks even if you were short but Taiga never even thought of that option when there was another form of attack, a powerful one that won't be caught by the wall known as block; one of the reasons she chose to be a pinch server.

Though, that had nothing to do with the current situation. Taiga wasn't able to hit those serves anymore and that was nothing but a painful history for her now.

So they needed to find a way to overcome blocks. Maybe they could try using quick attacks after a few more points, it was risky but worth a shot.

Taiga said, "Nice receive!" again as Nishinoya lifted the ball perfectly above her head; she tossed to Tanaka who scored again.

"It's your serve now Kawanishi-san."

The real problem was here though.

Taiga caught the ball with a wince, turned her back to hide her face from boys and started walking towards the back line. _  
_

_It will be OK. You already played volleyball. You can serve normally too. Just a normal serve, no aim, no jump, nothing._

She stood just before the back line, faced the net, made her serve toss.

 _Don't think about that time. Don't think about_ _ **that time**_ _. Not that time!  
_

Just as she swung her right arm, the pain in her shoulder intensified momentarily and all her strength withdrew from her arm in the moment her hand hit the ball. She couldn't help a whine escaping from her lips and the ball didn't even go till the net, it fell two meters before the girl, everyone looking at her with raised brows. That would be the world's most miserable serve miss.

"Are you OK, Kawanishi-san?"

 _No._

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry."

"No problem." Tanaka said, giving her a thumbs-up, and Nishinoya added loudly "Next, next!"

They seemed to mean it sincerely and Taiga was grateful for that. However…

She missed her next serve. And another. And another. After her fifth missed-serve, Tanaka and Nishinoya asked for a time-out.

Taiga followed after them, her eyes downcast and brows furrowed. Damn it! What would she do now? In times like this, she was reminded that a serve was, in fact, a solitary play; in times like this, when she was the one who dragged the others back.

She started bowing deeply, apologizing and telling them she would do something about her serves, or something along those lines. In reality she didn't know what went out from her lips, as she was absolutely anxious and feeling pain in her shoulders. She wasn't looking at their faces, well, if she did, maybe she would realize the fact that Nishinoya was actually not in front of her but right behind, before he held her shoulders.

But no, she just felt someone grabbing her shoulders, as if to make her relax and she jumped up and away from that someone, stood with her eyes wide and mouth open.

''Your shoulders are so hard; there is too much power around them. That's why you miss consecutively.'' Nishinoya explained nonchalantly, inspecting the girl's body posture for other errors to correct all the while.

This guy had just massaged a complete stranger's shoulders like he was massaging a couch or a table, not to mention a girl's. Taiga was contemplating on where to start explaining as libero continued his lecture.

"Why are you freaking out so much? It isn't like we expected you to be a great player when we accepted the match. You don't have to get a service ace. **You just get it over the net. When they receive and an attack comes, I will definitely save it."**

"Y-you… Those lines-"

Libero grinned, oblivious to her inner turmoil.

"Awesome, right?"

 _He is just so impossible._

"He is right Kawanishi-san" Tanaka agreed, scratching the back of his head awkwardly while trying to find the right words to comfort the girl "I always say this to everyone on our team so you listen well too. In volleyball, everyone on this side of the net is your ally! So now that we are in the same side, obviously everyone will cover for the other's misses."

"Everyone on this side…" she repeated.

Tanaka nodded.

"…Is my allies?"

"Yeah." Tanaka nodded again, with a touch of a sage bravado.

This time, looking at the both, Taiga scratched the back of her head, mumbling in a low voice, "That's right. Thanks, both of you."

And, when Nishinoya and Tanaka walked in front of her towards the court, and she looked at their backs, a single tear trickled from her eye with a small, hidden smile. Her shoulders felt much better now.

* * *

Kawanishi Taiga was sure an interesting person. She was quite unusual.

For starters, not many people were athletic enough to make a sudden somersault turn on the spot reflexively. Secondly, there were not many girls who went and picked fights with a group of bleached-haired delinquents for some children she didn't even know. And people usually didn't kick Nishinoya at all; well, libero strongly believed that despite being short, he had a pretty strong presence that scared people.

There were other things too, Nishinoya couldn't really name it, but there was a different air around her. He was sure there was more to this girl than met the eye.

But the most surprising of all, was her change after the time-out, more correctly, the change in her serves. She had gone from missed-serve to a jumping service ace.

Jumping service ace. Both Nishinoya and Tanaka and other team looked at her, surprised.

"Oi, how did that mini-girl did a jump-serve just now?"

"It must be luck, chance gears."

But Nishinoya knew it wasn't luck. He watched the small girl toss the ball, accelerate to jump and hit it with great form for the second time. She had no wasted movements; from her serve toss that made the ball be located at the highest point of her jump in the right time, to the way she hit without bending her elbow. Everything she did was optimal and she had a pretty mean serve, he had to say, unexpected of her small build.

Not to mention, she was supposed to have quitted volleyball, didn't she? Then how could she take 2 service aces in a row?

That wasn't all though. After the third jump-serve, she changed it to a jump floater.

When Nishinoya had asked her how did she do something like that and why didn't she do it from the very start, it turned out that she actually used to be a pinch server and since she hadn't been practicing for a long time she was out of shape and got anxious at first time.

"Didn't I tell you that I was a pinch server?"

"NO, YOU DIDN'T!" Nishinoya answered.

"Don't shout, geez."

Taiga said, as she bounced the ball on the floor for her next service.

In the end, their team ended up winning straight.

"Woo!"

Next thing Taiga knew, Tanaka and Nishinoya was jumping at her. Later, after she dodged Tanaka and punched Nishinoya reflexively, she learned that it was their way of doing high-fives.

Then boys went to do high-fives with children as Taiga stood next to net, looking down at her open palm. She couldn't believe she played volleyball after two years. It should've been a distant memory to her and yet after she had touched the ball, the feeling of ball's surface in her palm had come back to her, allowing her to be able to play rather fine. Maybe it was her body, her reflexes that were dormant and waking up; she didn't really understand either, but it felt nice.

She looked up to see Nishinoya and Tanaka conversing very happily with kids. Children were looking at them with sparkling eyes and treating them like heroes, which in turn made young men spark even brighter. _Who are children and who are senpai, I wonder?_

"Give me a break! Like I will give up on the court because of this!"

Taiga would be lying if she said she hadn't been expecting this.

 _What a sore-loser._

It seemed like scumbags were not going to let it go easily. And Taiga really didn't want to deal with anymore of this but when did life actually go to her liking anyways?

"Hey, back off!" Taiga warned and she stood in front of the guy as he tried to walk towards children. "We won fair and square. And you guys lost. Kids will use the court now."

Leader of the gang raised a laugh, making the girl want to kick him.

"Like I care about that, idiot. Now you step aside or you will get hurt, little girl."

As Taiga refused to comply and kept looking menacingly at him, he frowned and made a move to grab at her shoulder. At that moment, as the bleached haired guy reached for her, both Nishinoya and Tanaka dashed forward. However, it was over before they could reach the girl.

Brunette girl had taken a hold of her attacker's arm, twisted it and tripped the guy so he face planted on the floor. She had her knee pressing on his back with his right arm twisted painfully and his cheek brushing the asphalt, as Nishinoya and Tanaka stopped dead in their tracks.

"What the hell, you bitch?"

"Hey, now, don't try moving, you will hurt yourself." Taiga said as the guy trashed under her. "Now, listen to me well, you prick. If you don't get your sorry-ass out of here the moment I release you, this time I will seriously beat the daylights out of you." She twisted his arm harder for emphasis, earning a groan. "And don't doubt me, I'll do it."

Meanwhile, Nishinoya watched in shock and thought he was lucky to be alive after that shopping center incident.

After a few more threats, warnings and a bit more violence on Taiga's part, the gang finally left the court. Judging from the way they walk away fast without looking back, they really wanted to get away from the girl.

"Kawanishi-san, that was awesome! How did you do something like that?" Tanaka exclaimed.

"Thanks, Tanaka-san." She huffed, "Well, I practice hand-to-hand combat."

"Woaah, like in the animes?"

"Well, maybe not entirely like ani-Crap!" Taiga looked at her phone's screen, digital numbers telling her that she had only 10 minutes left for her to go to dojo.

"Uh, sorry I'm late." And why does she even bother to explain, she thought as she spoke. It wasn't like she would see them again. She quickly stuffed her phone to her pocket, grabbed her hoody and said, "It was a good match, thanks."

Then, just before she turned to leave, she captured Nishinoya's eyes and smirked like him, "And just so you know, if I see you again, I'm definitely beating you."

And she pulled her hood over, running away to catch whatever she was late to. Nishinoya never understood how could anyone wear a hoody in this late march.

Really, what an interesting girl was Kawanishi Taiga.

* * *

 **Preview**

Nishinoya comes into scene, wearing his school uniform, bumping the ball with his arms, then catching it and looking at the audience with a wide smile.  
"Hey guys! How are you doing? I came here to give you the preview. Um, let's see..." Nishinoya starts going through MysteryEarth's notes.  
"Oh, Noya-san. I'm here, too." Tanaka comes into scene, wearing his Karasuno jersey, looking around.  
"Hey, Ryuu! You were told to come here and give everyone hints too?" Noya jumps.  
"Yeah." Ryuu nods and turns to audience, "Next time will be in Karasuno and Noya-san returns to school."  
Everyone applauds. Tanaka turns to Noya, "But Noya-san, I heard that you are knocking the vice principle again in next chapter, are you going to be OK?"  
Nishinoya frowns and holds up his hand dramatically, "It can't be helped, Ryuu. A man shouldn't be afraid of what comes in future!"  
Tanaka's eyes glow, "Noya-san, you're so cool!"

"How's that cool? Are you guys stupid? That's just being idiotic." Someone speaks behind boys.

Tanaka and Nishinoya turn to newcomer. Taiga looks around with an indifferent face then turns to boys, who are looking at her their mouths agape and with shock.  
"Eh, Kawanishi-san, why are you here?" Tanaka asks.  
Taiga raises a brow, "Like you, I'm also here to tell everyone about how the story will go."  
"Story? What story?" Nishinoya asks, confused.  
"Also, Kawanishi-san, next time, we are returning to school. I mean, not to be rude or something but your part of the story is already over." Of course, Tanaka and Nishinoya fail to notice she also wears Karasuno's girl uniform.  
Taiga looks at boys, says, "Never mind." and turns to audience, "Hey everyone, don't forget to 'follow' before you go because next time there will be a lot of important things concerning our heroine's and libero's life."  
"Heroine?" Tanaka asks.  
"She must be talking about Kiyoko-san, Ryuu!"  
Nishinoya starts sparkling and his face starts glowing with happiness, while Tanaka starts screaming and tearing up, "But just Noya-san? That's not fair."

Ignoring their screams, Taiga addresses the audience, "Next time on _Of Redemption and Affection_ , Chemical Change of Encounters."

And scene goes blank.

* * *

 **A/N:**

*: Sailor fuku, _sailor outfit_ , is a common uniform style worn by female students in Japan as you probably already know :)

So, how was it? *smirks like Nishinoya*  
I appreciate feedback about any little detail, or anything. Just tell me your thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3: Chemical Change of Encounters

**A/N:** Hey! First things first, thanks to **Fumiko Matsubara, LuciaBethel, Madama Crimson, PINKruehls, Krisia Lives To Laugh , MusicalHysteria** for following/favoriting this story.  
Thanks to **Tendo** for the nice review.

Second, to clear up some things, this story will follow the original storyline as you can guess and there will be minimal differences arising from the question 'What if Taiga was there?'. Other than that, I will try to write parts that weren't shown in the anime/manga as much as possible because it's fun :)

I'm reading the manga but there won't be spoilers from manga unless we progress fast enough before producers can get to fourth season. Btw, does anyone read manga? I think Asahi was so cool in the last manga chapter ^.^

And lastly, I actually planned to update earlier but internal diseases internship is kinda demanding and I'm not sure if I will even survive it T.T Pray for me, if you can :)

Thanks to **LittleWordsOnKites,** for beta work!

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own Haikyuu!

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Chemical Change of Encounters**

Rival: They give you a purpose in your usually meaningless life.

~Urban Dictionary

 **Taiga**

Everyone have his or her own reasons when playing volleyball. For me, it was my best friend and rival. I can still remember the spark in her eyes, when she came up to tell me that she was joining a volleyball club in our neighborhood when we were in elementary third grade.

Afraid of my best friend was going to find herself another friends, more importantly, another rival, I also joined; not wanting to be left behind.

She was even shorter than me, but she was better in basic plays and she had these perfect receives. Soon, she was a libero on the team, one of the most important positions.

On the other hand, my receiving was shitty. My other plays were average but there was no meaning in me being a regular. I was a powerful girl for my age so the couch thought of making me a spiker, but a tall wall always stood in front of me. I was more than devastated.

Then one day, when it was my turn to serve during a practice, I jumped and tried to aim the ball to the back line. Receivers thought it would be go out of bonds but it was a service ace.

It was so simple and effective.

I did the same thing a couple of more times and after that match, coach called me to his side and told me that I had the natural senses of a pinch server.

I can still remember the excitement and exhilaration I felt that day.

But now, they are buried deep under the feelings of something akin to self-hatred and fear.

* * *

When Nishinoya arrived school that morning, there was one thought on his mind: "volleyball."

He was back to school but still not allowed to attend to anything club related. Libero knew that Daichi-san was an awesome person but he would never let Nishinoya practice with them until short boy's detention ended, and that was what he needed to do as captain. However, that meant Nishinoya had to figure out a way to practice volleyball during his time in school, without club. He couldn't sit around when there were things he needed to do, like learning how to block-follow properly.

Mother's team, he liked to call middle-aged ladies who practice in Karasuno indoor gymnasium, didn't start their practice until three hour after school hours, and to libero, even his lunch break was precious. He needed to find a way make use of his time but there was only too much he could practice on his own.

Maybe because libero was so busy thinking about these things that he didn't realize the new classmate sitting on the desk right in front of him when he first stepped into classroom.

It was a surprise for him when biology teacher called the name "Kawanishi Taiga" during roll.

And it was surprise for everyone else in the classroom when Nishinoya jumped up to his feet, pointed his finger towards the girl in front of him and yelled "Aahh, you were going to Karasuno?"

* * *

"No." Taiga refused without so much giving a thought when Nishinoya asked her a favor as soon as their first break started.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because I don't want to do it."

"Duh! And I'm asking why you don't want to. "

Nishinoya's request was that she hit some serves during lunch break and a bit after school so he could practice receiving. Why would she not accept was a mystery to him, because _obviously_ it was the perfect situation. A skilled pinch server like her was a great practice partner for a libero and vice versa. Not to mention, they were acquainted in this convenient time right when Nishinoya was prohibited from club activities and needed another way to make use of his time in school. It was practically Mother Nature's wish that things worked out like this for libero.

"I'm not obliged to explain." Taiga answered.

More like she couldn't really explain that she had a psychosomatic situation going on and her shoulders hurt like hell every time she tried to hit a serve for the last two years, and her performance in that last match was just a coincidence she couldn't quiet understand herself.

"Come on, why are you being stingy?"

More like, why he was acting so friendly all of a sudden?

"Nishinoya, was it?" -she stood up, though that didn't do much to add her height from the floor- "Did you already forget about stealing my shirt and pushing me to the floor? Because I didn't. I will definitely pay you for that time but unfortunately we are in school right now."

A swift kick to his lower leg.

"Argh! Why are you so violent, damn it?" Libero howled, "I was the one who took the t-shirt first. Also, I didn't push you, I just let go of the hanger and you didn't even fall in the end, so what? Not to mention I wasn't even aware that you were a girl."

Libero was completely oblivious to veins popping one after another on brunette's forehead. Some of the surrounding students, who had been watching their interaction with interest, swept their desks away from the pair. And after a few seconds, even Nishinoya realized the air around brunette girl was heating up a few degrees.

Taiga, meanwhile, tried to remember about anger management, yes. She really, _really_ didn't want to get into a trouble at the first day of school. What was she supposed to do? Breathe.

She breathed through her nose.

Get away from the source of your anger.

She passed the persistent boy and started walking towards door.

But what happened next was unexpected. And unfortunate.

"Hey, wait!"

Nishinoya, frowning but not giving up, started walking after her. He was careless not to see a plastic bottle on the floor, just on the spot he was about to step on. So, he stepped, slipped and was about to fall forward but fortunately (or unfortunately), Taiga was right there to break his fall.

Except, she also lost her balance and they fell forward together.

The dean, who was just inspecting classrooms peacefully, choose that specific moment to appear at the door of classroom, stopping the momentum of two students with his body, at the cost of getting blown himself. His wig flew off and floated a bit in the air before landing on Nishinoya's hands.

Well, no one had seen that coming.

* * *

What did Taiga not want again?  
To get into trouble.

But where was she right now?  
In an empty classroom, except for one person.

And why?  
Because she got detention: cleaning every classroom in second years' corridor after school, for a week. Not to mention, in the first day of her new school.

Where was she supposed to be instead?  
On her way to dojo.

She really wanted to punch something, too.

And her mother would be hearing about this. Knowing the woman, she would just assume Taiga attacked a student again and ended up blowing the dean herself.

The girl sighed. So much for a fresh start.

Nishinoya wasn't happy either, expectedly. He was just silently sweeping under desks, his face cranky, for the first time since Taiga met him. Both of their jackets were shed. Nishinoya was wearing one of his usual t-shirts with a random phrase, not the "One-man army" one -thank god-. Taiga had her long hair in a high ponytail but a few dark brown –nearly crimson- locks were freely caressing her skin at this point. Windows were open, and sounds of soccer club's practice were reaching up to second floor. Also chirping of birds.

"Hey?"

The girl looked up at him. Nishinoya wasn't smirking for once but he was scratching the back of his head. "My bad. It was kind of my mistake."

"Yeah, you totally crashed into me." She said dryly.

"But at least, we got away with just this." He retorted, gesturing to the sweeper and dustpan in his hands.

Take a petulant, headstrong personality with a painful past and put it in a petite body, add some athletic skills and that would be the girl named Kawanishi Taiga. She was difficult from time to time but wasn't a complete bitch. Even Nishinoya was being mature about this; she could do it, too. It wouldn't do any good to be at daggers drawn with him in the same class anyways.

"I guess it couldn't be helped. So its fine."

And his grin had returned, just like that. "Then, will you practice with me?"

He just didn't know when to give up, did he? Was it that important to him?

"Why do you ask me in the first place?" Taiga asked instead of downright refusing, genuinely curious about this wish of him for the first time. "Karasuno has a volleyball club, right? It was a power school for once."

His expression going from grinning to sour, he answered, "Yeah, but right now, I'm banned from club activities. It's only temporary though. I will return. That's why I can't sit around."

His grip on the broom tightened for a second and his brows furrowed slightly, making Taiga think that there was a delicate matter under this. So she was a bit hesitant to inquire further. After a second of watching him tentatively, she took her chance, seeing that Nishinoya didn't really refrain from revealing his prohibition to her. Still, she intoned her question carefully, "Why are you banned?"

"I quarreled with a senpai in the school, pushed the dean away and broke a vase."

 _What is with that?_

Normally, Taiga would laugh at that. But she didn't say anything, pretty sure that there was more to this matter. Somehow, it was easier to act around 'idiot Nishinoya' whom she could yell at and threat. But this 'Nishinoya' was in the complicated zone. And as a simple person, she made it a point not to go there.

There was a silent moment in which neither of them uttered a word and just as it was starting to get awkward, Nishinoya spoke up, saving the mood. She was really grateful to the guy for times like these.

"So how 'bout you? Have you applied for girls' volleyball team yet? You know there's Aya-senpai there. She is totally beautiful, maybe on the same level as Kiyoko-san."

And from that spark in his eyes, Taiga knew the 'idiot' was back. And who the hell was Kiyoko-san?

"I don't plan on entering volleyball team" she corrected him, as she picked up a forgotten notebook from floor to put it in lost and found box.

"Eeh? Why? You serve great like that."

"Are you a complete idiot? I already told you that I quitted volleyball some time ago, didn't I? Besides, I'm doing hand-to-hand combat now. It would be difficult to keep doing both at the same time."

"Oh yeah, that! You know that was totally cool back there. Like in the animes" he exclaimed animatedly.

Sports were usually safe territory for Taiga. Because when you talk about sports it didn't really get awkward or weird. So she genuinely joined his excitement without giving much thought as she smiled unguardedly for once. And suddenly, both of them were jittering in the middle of the classroom.

"I know, right? Hand-to-hand combat is really cool. It is nothing like animes though."

"That guy was like 'boom!' when you beat him."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Serves him right!"

Then Taiga sighed disappointedly, "But now, because of this stupid detention, I will miss practice." She complained.

"Huh, you have a practice right now?" Nishinoya asked, his smirking face immediately getting serious.

"Umm" Taiga gave a quick look at the clock on the wall, "yeah, in ten minutes."

"Then why the heck are you standing here, idiot? Hurry and go."

"But what about the detention?" she asked, "And who are you calling an idiot? "

Libero dodged an angry punch as he answered.

"I will take care of the things here. I can't go to club anyways so at least you go to your practice."

Taiga considered. That would be great, but did she really want to leave everything to Nishinoya as she went to do her own thing?

"No, I can't do that." She declined.

Nishinoya could see why she was hesitating. Oh boy, what a prideful girl.

"It's OK, you can pay me back later, if you want."

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow.

Libero kept the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, really."

"Then…Thanks. I will be going." She bowed only her head, walked to the door before turning back to yell at him "But I will definitely pay back, just so you know!"

"Are you still here?" he yelled back.

Later, he watched from the window as Taiga ran through schoolyard. She ran quite fast.

* * *

Kawanishi Taiga looked at the plastic bottle in her hands, blue liquid inside wavered with her small movements. Was it stupid? Would this be considered as thanks? Would he even like it? But a sports drink was the best thing that came to her mind. After all, she didn't know if he liked coffee or tea in the mornings but she knew he was an athlete. And every athlete could use a sports drink; she knew from experience that an extra bottle could be lifesaving sometimes.

So she made up her mind and walked into classroom.

Nishinoya looked up as he heard a thud, to see a drink bottle on his desk and an uncomfortable Kawanishi Taiga holding it, looking away.

"What?" he asked.

"A sports drink." The girl answered.

Libero kept himself from rolling his eyes because by now, he knew enough to be cautious of her violent side. "And why are you giving it to me?"

"Thanks for yesterday" she mumbled. Her face was as though she was in pain and Nishinoya couldn't help raising a laugh; not even caring about her kicks anymore.

"Hahaha, why are you like this?" he took the bottle, "Thanks. Wow! It's an expensive brand, too."

His reaction made a slightly relieving feeling come over her; it seemed like she had been overthinking things.

Taiga turned her back and seated herself. But… "Hey, I don't accept this." This time, Nishinoya was in front of her desk, holding the bottle to her nose.

"Why?" she asked, pushing the bottle away from her face.

"If you wanna thank me for yesterday, practice with me. We will call it even then." He said.

And he had that damn smirk in his face.

That's how Taiga found herself in the schoolyard after day's detention, in her p.e. gear and with a volleyball in her hands. They were using the volleyball court in the garden for p.e. classes; Nishinoya was in the other side of the net. She watched his concentrated stance, knees bent, palms open and eyes focused. He was really different from his usual self.

She exhaled to calm herself, willing her shoulders to relax. Confusingly, they didn't hurt so badly this time. Was it because of the other day? Because she had already played once?

She closed her eyes and cleared her mind of these thoughts to visualize a perfect jump serve, and then opened them.

"Here I go!"

"Bring it!"

* * *

"I'm off!" Taiga said as she finished tying her shoelaces. Not that there was anyone to see her off, with her grandparents being asleep.  
She had her schoolbag on her back but she was wearing tracksuits instead of her school uniform. Before she stepped out, Taiga stopped and made a mental check to not forget anything important. Microwave oven turned off, water heater also turned off. She went through her pocket to see if she had her cell phone and keys; yes, she had.

She stepped out, and shut the door behind her.

It was bright and early in the morning, much earlier before the classes started and yet she was on her way to school already, because of a certain spikey haired, short libero. This had been their routine for a while now, because apparently, practicing _only_ after school was not enough for Nishinoya. Honestly Taiga didn't know why she chose to indulge him in his wish to meet before school. But well, she always woke up early anyways. Instead of looking through her mother's old atlases of human anatomy, she guessed she could use some change. Their practices were fun too.

Nishinoya was an interesting person, surprising; you never knew what he would do. Well, it was like that at first, but after practicing nearly everyday in the last one and a half week, Taiga could tell some of the things about him. Like his favorite food was Gari Gari-kun popsicles, especially soda flavor but he wasn't really picky when it came to food. His worst subject was contemporary literature and his home was close to school.

When he had revealed that he liked four-character idioms, the pair had become all excited and jumpy, sharing their favorite phrases with each other, using onomatopoeias like 'gya' and 'gat' for description. Though, that had reminded Taiga of 'one-man army' incident, which lead their dialogue to end with a swift kick.

She knew that he absolutely loved his position on court; _he would play libero even if he were 2 meters tall_. When they played, it was easy to see that he took pride in his skills as a libero and he _was_ greatly skilled. This was a side of him that brunette girl could relate.

He was usually very carefree about most things. Taiga sometimes thought it would be nice to be like him in that aspect.

As Taiga learned so much about the short boy, it was a given that he learned some things about her at the same time. But she was always careful to not let out too much. She only gave unimportant information, like she lived with her grandparents because her parents were working abroad, she liked healthy food, she was interested in medicine –not the reason why, though-, and her life motto was ' _simple and efficient_ '.

When they talked about each other, she was always careful to stay in the **safe** zone. If their conversation started to go into complicated directions, she would always change the topic. It was simple; she didn't want things to get awkward so she drew a line. She didn't ask too personal questions because it would result in him asking questions in the same nature; also because she didn't need to know.

So Taiga still didn't know what happened back when libero got banned from the volleyball club; she only knew there were some problems. Likewise, Nishinoya didn't have a clue as to what caused her to drop volleyball or why sometimes her shoulders got all stiff, and the girl intended to keep it that way. He kept asking from time to time, though. He was insistent like that, but this was one topic Taiga wouldn't budge.

She was nearing the school when she heard a yelp, a woman's voice. She immediately tried to locate it; and it wasn't hard to do so since noises were still coming. As she turned right to a bystreet, she saw it. Two guys were disturbing a young girl. She frowned and immediately made her way there. Taller of the guys was wearing Karasuno's uniform; he had a muscular build, long brown hair and a beard. He was telling things to the other one from behind. Was he a gang leader or something? As Taiga got closer, she came to the conclusion that he couldn't be her peer, because he seemed like a freaking adult.

"Hey, what the hell do you lowlifes think you're doing?" Taiga shouted as she came to stand between the girl and two guys.

"Huh? Who the hell are you, brat? Move or you will get hurt." Shorter one shouted at her.

Taiga gritted her teeth and veins popped on her forehead. Brat this, brat that, she was really getting sick of it _._ And what was with this situation?It was like the gods made an effort to bring forward problem assholes for Taiga to deal with, and all of them called her brats.

But maybe this was good; she hadn't punched something in a while, except Nishinoya. Also she got to practice martial arts in real life, too. So she punched the guy, and then threw a light kick to his side as he doubled up with pain.

Meanwhile the goatee in the back was watching the scene with his mouth agape and hands up. Taiga turned to him, and said, "It's your turn now" with a frown, as she cracked her knuckles.

"Aah, huh? Umm, p-p-please wait a s-second." He stammered, his face cyanotic and looking like he was having a hard attack. Oh? Surprisingly, this guy got scared pretty easy, despite his looks. But it was no excuse.

Taiga was just about to move when the blond girl behind her held her arm. "Umm, please wait. You got it wrong. This person" –she pointed the trembling goatee- "was actually trying to help me. He was just trying to talk with the other guy. Please don't attack him."

"Hm?"

 _Oh, no._ Taiga mentally kicked herself. Just how stupid she was, trying to hit a guy without listening him? And he was someone from the school, too. This couldn't be worse. She opened her eyes to peak at the guy; he was keeping his distance, understandably, but at least he was looking back at her.

Taiga bowed deep enough to make her upper body parallel with her legs, her ponytail sweeping the floor, and shouted her apology "I'm so sorry. Please forgive my rudeness. I just thought you were a friend of other guy, disturbing the lady. U-uh, I- I mean it's not that you look like a pervert or a gang leader or anything but-" _Great, she just made it worse._

"It's OK." He answered in an unexpectedly gentle tone. Then he scratched the back of his head, "you definitely shocked me back there, but it turned out OK in the end."

She bowed again, very deeply, "I'm honestly very sorry."

"It's fine, don't mind."

She raised her head to look at him; it was funny how he said the 'don't mind' part in English. She flashed a timid smile at him as she asked her next question "Umm, could you be a student in Karasuno high?"

"Yeah, I'm Azumane Asahi, a third year."

Oh, Mother Nature.

A third year. A senpai. Great. It was just so fitting, just very Taiga-like to nearly hit a third year because of a misunderstanding. But thankfully, Azumane-senpai was a great person and he didn't make a big deal of it; even tried to get her to relax as she freaked out about attacking a senpai.

Then, after the other girl thanked them multiple times, and Taiga asked the girl not to tell anyone about her hitting someone, Asahi even offered to walk to school together.

"Though, I'm not sure which one of us need the company, but this guy might have friends." he smiled.

"Uh, hai" –a bow, not too deep this time- "then, please."

As they neared the school, Taiga's phone buzzed in her pocket; she drew it out to see Nishinoya's caller ID. He was calling as expected, as she was kind of late compared to usual. She hung up and typed a quick text instead.

Then she raised her head to look at Asahi, -she literally had to look up to see his face- "Umm Asahi-senpai, you're earlier than normal school time, aren't you? Are you attending some kind of club?"

Asahi smiled, "No, I just happened to come earlier than usual. Are you early because of club activities, Kawanishi?"

"Heh, not really" she answered, laughing weakly. She thought a bit about how to explain the situation best, "Well, there is this extremely persistent guy from my class. I'm just here to practice volleyball with him."

"Volleyball?"

"Hai. Apparently, he is a member of boys' volleyball club but he had some problems with the vice-principal and he is prohibited from club right now. Though it seems like he will be returning about in a week and a half. And for various reasons, I accepted to help him practice his receives until then." Taiga explained.

After she was finished with the story, she realized that Asahi's eyes were wide as he looked at her, and then looked away. Well, she guessed it was a surprising story.

"Volleyball, huh. Is your classmate…good?" Asahi asked then.

"Hai" the girl answered. She had to hand it to Nishinoya, no matter how frustrating of an idiot he was.

"He plays a special defensive position called libero" she tried to explain the importance of the position, "and he is very skilled at it."

"I see."

She never understood why Asahi had made such a profound face after her words, nor the reason he put his large hand on her shoulder and said "Do your best" so sincerely, with a sad smile.

But she shook it off as they parted at the entrance of the schoolyard, and Taiga made her way towards volleyball court.

"You're late! I thought you weren't coming."

"Shut up, things happened."

"What?" Nishinoya asked, spinning the red and green ball with his index finger.

"I beat a guy who was disturbing a young girl and met with a senpai." Taiga answered as she took off her jersey.

"Again? Dang. You're too brave for your own good. Learn to hold back a little."

"I don't want to hear that from you, Mr. I-Blew-Dean's-Wig-Two-Times."

"A-anyways, you're late so tell the rest as we practice." Nishinoya shouted and he threw the ball to the girl.

"Oh, shut up." Taiga said, as she caught it and got into position.

* * *

Nishinoya woke up at the sound of chattering, which led him to the conclusion that it was already lunch break. He raised his head from the desk to look around and realized most of the seats were either empty or their occupants sleeping like him. He stretched his muscles with a mild groan before standing up. Classes right before lunch break were the perfect opportunity for a sweet nap and now, it was time to find Ryuu and the others and eat.

Then, the brown haired girl sitting in front of him caught his attention.

Now that he thought about it, he never saw Taiga eat a proper lunch. During lunch breaks she mostly sat on her desk with her nose buried in a book, alone.

"What'cha doin'?" He stepped in front of her desk, his shadow effectively limiting her vision and causing her to look up irritated.

Nishinoya was used to her glares though, he grinned in response.

"I _was_ reading" she answered pointedly, only for energetic libero to ignore her point. He looked at the thick book in her hands. Oh, it was one of her medical books. Taiga had a strange obsession with medicine; she read the books that were used in friggin' medical college.

"Don't you eat lunch?" He asked.

"No."

"You can eat with me and guys."

Taiga stopped glaring at him, as she realized it wasn't really working, instead answered flatly. "I'm not hungry."

"Come on! It's not good to be introvert."

"I'm not introvert, you idiot."

But in the end, Taiga found herself standing on the rooftop, next to Nishinoya, looking at four male students that sat in a semicircle. She knew Tanaka, who had greeted her when she came in, but the other three were looking pretty surprised at this addition to their small lunch group. She felt a sudden urge to kick Nishinoya. Didn't he know that she get uncomfortable and stiff in situations like this?

"Guys, this person is Kawanishi, I've been telling you about." Short libero declared with a loud voice, smiling as widely as always.

And then, he poked the girl next to him with his elbow.

Twice.

"Hey, come on, say hi."

Of course he didn't realize that each poke made veins pop on her forehead, inevitably earning him a swift kick in the leg. She really liked throwing kicks, didn't she? And how was she so damn strong, despite being a girl and shorter than him? -Even if by 1.2 cm only-

"Stop poking me, it hurts!" Taiga shouted.

"That's my line! Why are you always so violent?"

"Because you deserve it." girl shot back immediately.

"Just now, what did I do to deserve it?"

When Nishinoya and Taiga started fighting they always tended to ignore everyone around them. Like now, as they kept bickering without realizing others were looking at them with eyes wide and brows raised.

Now, everyone in volleyball club thought the quarrel between their ace and libero was unfortunate, of course, and wished both of them returned to club as soon as possible. And Ennoshita was sure both Asahi-san and Nishinoya were thinking a lot of things in their own respective ways in this time period. That's why the second year hadn't been much surprised when he heard that Nishinoya had found someone to practice with, in school. He was sure that his hyperactive and stubborn friend wouldn't sit and wait around patiently.

The part that surprised him had been Nishinoya's practice partner being a girl; a girl, Tanaka also befriended during a three-on-three volleyball match against bullies in the park. Not only that story was so crazy on its own, everyone in club knew that Tanaka and Nishinoya couldn't really build normal friendships with girls, getting too excited and shy, resulting with the girl literally running away from them.

But even that part paled in comparison when libero dragged a short, angry-looking girl with him to the rooftop, then got a kick to his leg and suddenly they started arguing, without minding Ennoshita and others at all.

"Hey, that girl just kicked Nishinoya." Narita Kazuhito, a second year middle blocker stated the obvious, as if to confirm he didn't just imagine it.

"I'm more shocked at the fact that Nishinoya is talking to a girl like that." Kinoshita Hisashi, second year wing spiker, chimed in. So Tanaka, who was a bit more familiar with the situation than his peers, took it on himself to explain.

"It's alright, they will calm down in a minute."

And true to his words, the pair stopped fighting soon enough and Nishinoya settled between Ennoshita and Narita comfortably while brown haired girl introduced herself once more, this time bowing properly.

"Kawanishi Taiga, nice to meet you."

Her straight hair was a bright dark brown that border-lined crimson; it was longer than Shimizu-senpai's hair and was pulled back in a high ponytail with some bangs messily falling on her forehead. Despite being short, like Nishinoya, she had a fairly muscular build.

Guys, except Tanaka and Nishinoya, also bowed their heads and she added "Sorry for intrusion."

"Kawanishi-san, you're totally fine. Here, have a seat." Tanaka offered cheerfully.

"Ossu" she said, sitting next to baldy. After she sat down, she looked at the boys more closely. They all seemed like average high school students and didn't have particularly striking details in their appearances like Nishinoya or Tanaka. The one that sat right across her smiled politely and introduced himself, "My name is Ennoshita Chikara, nice to meet you." Following his lead, the other two, Narita Kazuhito and Kinoshita Hisashi also said their names.

"I hear that you've been helping Nishinoya practice, Kawanishi-san." Ennoshita said, after introductions. "Thanks for looking after our important libero."

"Chikaraa, the way you say that feels suspicious, damn it!"

Ennoshita smiled sheepishly as Narita tried to placate Nishinoya, "Now, now."

His appreciation had surprised Taiga, albeit it didn't show except a so slight raise of her brows. "Well, I got help from Nishinoya, too. So, it's fine." She explained. "So, you're also from volleyball club, Ennoshita-san?"

"Everyone here is." Tanaka answered the question.

"Wow, that's great."

Then she occasionally asked them questions like the positions they played but mostly, guys asked her, and Taiga tried to answer them. Was it true that she beat a gang-leader in the park? _Yes, it's true_. Did she like Karasuno? _Well, she liked the uniforms._ What was her favorite subject? _It was biology, because she wanted to become a doctor._ Really, why? _Because she thought it was great to be able to save people's life._ Wow, cool.

"Come to think of it Kawanishi-san, which high school did you transfer from?" Tanaka asked as he popped a piece of eggroll into his mouth.

Taiga bit her bottom lip in distress. To be honest, she expected something like this could happen. In this nice and relaxed atmosphere, which she enjoyed, there could be a tiny question about her that reminded she was, in reality, so miserable in some ways. It wasn't anyone's fault, really. It was a normal question that wouldn't bother a normal person; but for Taiga it was a different story.

"Uh, I was enrolled to Nekoma High School in Tokyo in my first year."

Only one pair of eyes caught the mild sorrow in her face, as Taiga decidedly stared at Tanaka's lunch box while answering. Nishinoya raised his brows slightly, curious about the distress on his temporary practice partner's face.

"You mean _that_ Nekoma?"

"Yeah, I lived in Tokyo until now."

"But Kawanishi-san, we heard a lot about Nekoma. Supposedly, Karasuno had a rival kind-of relationship with that place when Coach Ukai was here." Ennoshita explained.

"Rival." Taiga mumbled, "That's great."

"Right?" Tanaka said, smirking. "Have you never heard of it in a whole year? Not even once?"

"I wasn't very interested in boys' volleyball, Tanaka. Sorry." She grinned.

"But it's fitting, isn't it?" Ennoshita said suddenly.

Everyone turned questioningly to him, who explained while flashing a kind smile her way. "I mean she is a _cat_ , after all."

After a second, Taiga smiled too, catching his meaning. Though Ennoshita continued his explanation anyways, since others were not as fast as her and they kept looking at him like a bunch of fishes, "You see, 'Taiga' stands for the word 'tiger' in English."

"That's awesome!" Nishinoya and Tanaka simultaneously said while Narita and Kinoshita made fun of the two and Ennoshita scolded all of them for getting out of hand too quickly. The sole girl in the group felt her face flush as she watched her peers.

 _It's like something warm is spreading inside me. What is this? So embarrassing! But still…_

Taiga giggled, making Tanaka and Nishinoya look at her awe-struck.

But still… it was so nice.

"Well, my parents named me that because they hoped I would grow to be a strong and tough person." Taiga explained.

"Is that why you're so violent?" Nishinoya asked. And the nice, warm feeling was gone.

Taiga glared at him.

"Do you want me to punch you?"

"See, this is what I'm talking about!"

And with that, another bickering contest started.

When one person encountered another, it caused a chemical reaction.

Somewhere, at that very moment, an encounter that could've changed the world could've been happened.

Maybe in an incredibly distant country…

Maybe on the other side of the planet…

Or it might be in a normal high school in the northern countryside of a small island country in the east.

A chemical encounter that could change a bitter, tiny girl's life had happened right at Karasuno.

* * *

 _Hm hmm hm hm hmm_

Taiga hummed the notes of a song she had distantly heard in Sakanoshita Shoten earlier that day, when they were buying Popsicle with Nishinoya after practice. She made a last addition to her math homework that had been on her table for last one and a half hour. She sighed tiredly, stealing a glance at her medical books; reading a chapter on 'BSL in trauma' was really inviting but she was also very aware of how sleepy she really was. Hitting dozens of jump serves for that mass of energy (a.k.a. Nishinoya Yuu) everyday was seriously taking its toll on her body.

Her phone rang just when she was stretching her back on the chair, trying to ease the stiffness of sitting for a long time. She twirled around a stack of books, tiptoed around sprawled clothes, cursed when she stepped on a nail clipper and finally got to the vibrating device and silencing it with a sweep of her finger.

"Hey mom. What's up?"

And then, she gave the usual report to her mom. Well, of course she conveniently forgot insignificant details such as she had befriended a noisy, impulsive boy and played volleyball with him everyday. No, no, that was just a little detail; no need to go through the trouble of telling her mom and making her freak out. Poor woman panicked about her daughter more than necessary as it is and that worry showed itself in the form of interrogation everyday. Speaking of…

"Of course, I'm taking my pills, like I could for-"

Wait.

Instinctively Taiga looked at her calendar on the wall; there were crosses on everyday, for that day's pill. Well, everyday but today.

"-get it. Uh mom, grandpa is calling me. I will call you back tomorrow, 'kay? Later."

Taiga frowned and kept her gaze fixed on a point on the beige wall of her room to concentrate as she traced back to morning in her mind. She had eaten breakfast, boiled egg and tea; she had heated some bread in microwave. After breakfast she had put away the dishes, got dressed, brushed her teeth and take a pill from the bottle that was right next to toothpaste…

Except, she hadn't. Today she had skipped her pills.

Taiga groped her right shoulder with her left hand. After the first shock went away, she couldn't help a smile touching her lips. She had skipped her pills, yet her shoulder hadn't been aching at all. For two years, she had hated those pills because they always reminded her why she could never be happy and how pathetic she was and yet she couldn't do away with them because of her psychosomatic shoulders, but now she had gone a full day without even realizing.

Next morning, Nishinoya was a bit surprised when Taiga came to practice…different than usual. She actually smiled somewhat prettily when she said, "'Sup, Noya-kun"

 _Noya-kun…_

Right.

Libero couldn't help but grin rather stupidly until her first jump serve hit him in the face.

Oh, well.

* * *

 **Preview**

"Um, hello mina-san. I'm Ennoshita Chikara, a second yea-"

"Chikaraa! This place is not for introductions, it's for preview." Nishinoya who had just walked in, corrects.

"That's right." Taiga says, appearing right behind Nishinoya. "Author already did the introduction part for you, so you go on to preview Ennoshita-san!"

"Huh, author?" Ennoshita asks with a confused look while Nishinoya thinks out loud, holding his chin, "But maybe we can add a segment like that where we talk about everyone and all."

"Nice idea, Noya-san!" Tanaka comes into scene.

"Huh, segment?" Ennoshita asks.

"You don't know, right?" Taiga asks him, but then shakes her head, "Anyways! Let's get on with the preview!"

"OK, let's see." Tanaka says and looks through MysteryEarth's notes, "Wow, there's Hinata and Kageyama in next chapter!"

"Huh? Who the hell are they?" Nishinoya asks as Hinata comes into scene, jumping and shouting, "You called me?" followed by Kageyama, who simply greets with a nod.

"Welcome Hinata, Kageyama!" Tanaka says and first years thanks him.

Nishinoya looks confused for a while but shrugs it off, deciding it isn't worth thinking too much.

"I will finally be able to show everyone that I can fly!" Hinata says, opening his arms wide as he smiles. Then he turns to Kageyama, "Kageyama, we will win against everyone who comes our way!"

"Of course!"

"Suga-san will also make an appearance!" Tanaka declares, turning to audience, as the first years start shouting in the back, psyching up.

Ennoshita nods in agreement, looking through his own copy of notes, "We will also learn some shocking truth about Kawanishi-san, ne?"

"That's right! Oh, I can't believe it; Taiga did you really-" Nishinoya says, looking at Tanaka's notes from right.

"Hey, no spoilers!" Taiga cuts her off.

"Spoilers?" three of them asks.

"Never mind. Anyways, Noya-kun will you do it this time?"

"Sure, leave it to me." Nishinoya comes to front, and Taiga steps back as if allowing him to take the stage. Then Nishinoya smirks, "So everyone, next time on _Of Redemption and Affection_ , Confrontation."

* * *

 **A/N:** Review please. Pretty please! :)


	4. Chapter 4: Confrontation

**A/N:** Those who favourite/followed my story, thanks a lot guys! It really gives me inspiration.

And again, I meant to update earlier but well, as you can see, I couldn't. Unfortunately, my beta reader is unable to help me right now due to conditions in their life. So any hidden beta readers out there, I hope my voice reaches you :D

Special thanks to **JenRiley16,** for the first in-site review :) ****

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Confrontation**

"But to accept defeat so selfishly… That's something I cannot forgive!"

~Nishinoya, to Asahi

Guilt: The defense mechanism of denial by overcompensation.

Otto Fenichel

The obstacle of an unconscious sense of guilt is the most powerful of all obstacles to recovery.

Sigmund Freud

 **Taiga**

 _When I try to remember about that day; it's just a swirl of something painful and terrifying. I don't think I will ever forget about that time; it's always there, around my shoulders, in the form of a constant pain gnawing at me; but I can't clearly remember it either. What I remember are just some parts and pieces:_

 _Her bright face as she asked me to practice. Her uniform that was different than mine, signaling her position as a libero._

 _The fatigue I felt in my legs and yet the competitive spirit I felt towards my rival as she kept perfectly receiving every ball._

 _Her playful taunts…_

 _The blue and yellow volleyball that stood right behind her as she waited for my serve and the step she took back to get the next ball, which I aimed purposely._

"Damn!" Taiga stopped writing and threw her pen away with a wince. It made a small dent on the wall next to the table.

After breathing deeply in and out a few times, trying to calm down to an extent to keep writing at least, she tried again. She wanted to finish this homework of Dr. Nox for their next session. In order to not fall apart again, she skipped over that part of her memory she had been writing about and started another part. She wasn't sure that it would work though; everything about her life in the last two years was equally hellish and horrible.

Her pen started moving on the paper, her brows drawing closer with every word she scribbled.

 _While still blurry around the edges, I can remember the accident a bit better; the voice of the cranking motor, shaking, the shattering glass, the pain._

 _I did wanted to die but the outcome was more fitting that I had planned._

 _I remember the pai-_

Something fell on the paper, ruining the letters. It was a transparent liquid. Then she realized that she had been gritting her teeth and her shoulder was hurting, making her hand clench and unable to write a damn thing.

It seemed like she wasn't going to be able to do the homework.

She sighed as she went to lie down on her bed and looked at the ceiling, with disheartened eyes. In times like these when she was alone, she felt like something was chewing away at her, piece by piece, until she was broken and torn.

No.

Not in times like these. It was her usual self. It had been, for a long time at least. But now that there were occasional times when she was free from that, she didn't even know how she made it last two years. With that being said, she couldn't run away from the reality, nor could she compensate for it.

 _I killed my friend. And after that, I tried to commit suicide._

She pulled the blanket over her head, not finding it in herself to write those last sentences to her diary.

* * *

"You forgot the volleyballs?" Taiga asked.

Nishinoya grinned cheekily, as an answer.

"Say, baka-Noya" she purposely emphasized the insult, which didn't affect the libero one bit, "What is the point of coming to practice, if you forget the balls?"

"Relax, it's no biggie. We can just borrow a couple of balls from the club. Well, I can't do it though, you are gonna have to."

"Huh? Why do I have to do go through the trouble even though you're the one responsible?"

Taiga asked that to him but now she was walking towards the second gym, in which the boys' volleyball club held their practice. She had the urge to sigh or punch something so badly.

According to Nishinoya, boys started their morning practice around this time so the gym would definitely be open. Usually, either Daichi-san or Suga-san –third years she didn't know- would be the one responsible with the key. Tanaka and the other second years showed up later. But there was absolutely nothing she had to worry about; both Daichi-san and Suga-san were super awesome people.

As she got closer to the building, she realized there was four pair of shoes at the doorsill. Hoping one of them would be either Tanaka or Ennoshita; she got closer and stuck her head inside to look around a bit before going in.

"How long they have been at it?"

Lucky! Tanaka was there and talking to another person, slightly shorter than him with grey hair and two other club members were practicing; a short and slim, orange haired guy and a tall, black haired guy with a stern face.

Taller one was hitting spikes as the orange one kept receiving, despite being clearly exhausted and short on breath.

"It's been fifteen minutes since I got here."

"Fifteen minutes straight?"

"Hmm", a nod.

"What?"

The practicing pair was so focused that Taiga didn't want to interrupt; she silently stood at the threshold. But thinking back, maybe she was just captured by their intensity, as she watched without taking her eyes off. That shrimp –he was still taller than herself, she realized- was covered in sweat and he looked like he was in pain but still he got back on his feet after falling, kept watching the ball, kept moving his legs to follow it, no matter how clumsily.

"You've reached your limit now!" shouted the taller one, as he slammed the ball at him. "You can't go any furt-"

"Not yet! I haven't dropped the ball yet!" orange-head yelled back hoarsely.

"Take that!"

The ball went flying over his head.

"Wow, bad character! How's he supposed to get that?" Tanaka scolded. Orange-head started running but it definitely seemed like a difficult ball in his worn-out state.

"Hinata's athleticism has been amazing since junior high. It's not just that, though. I feel like he has the fortitude to become a winner."

Just watching him ran and ran, dive for the ball so desperately and send it back while rolling on the floor… It overwhelmed Taiga.

"He saved it. That's amazing Hinata!" Tanaka complimented.

His dark haired friend, who was watching orange-head intensely, raised his arms slowly, as the ball came flying back to him and tossed the ball to high point.

"Toss?"

"Kageyama tossed to him."

"Hinata doesn't have the strength to spike, though."

But Tanaka was wrong one more time, because as soon as orange-head saw the ball, for reasons unknown to Taiga, his face lit up and he started running towards the net.

And then he flew.

No, he didn't jump. He flew.

 _Sugei._ The girl found herself thinking.

"He sure can jump."

"He recovered from being that worn out. And look how happy he is."

And Taiga strongly agreed with their observations. Shrimp was practically beaming brighter than his orange hair, his happiness flowing across the gym and reaching all the way to brunette, earning a small, unconsciously given smile from the girl.

Then grey haired one started talking about some special meaning to him and a setter's toss but Taiga didn't really understand or even listened. Because she knew something bad was coming, as she watched the orange-head cough multiple times on his knees and tried to talk with his taller friend.

She had had the same symptoms in many instances before.

Those specific signs showing that the person was on the verge of vomiting.

There was no time to loose!

Quickly, Taiga glanced around and caught the sight of a bucket that stood near door. Snatching it, she darted at the boy who was at his limit, and she put the bucket against his jowl just the moment he emptied the contents of his stomach with a rather violent gag, thus saving the floor and his clothes from filth.

Of course now, three people were kind of looking at her surprised, save for Hinata who was a bit busy. Taiga stood up and scratched the back of her head. She contemplated inwardly about what to say, now.

"Kawanishi-san, what are you doing here?"

"Hey, Tanaka. Um, I was just at the door when I saw this guy –she pointed the shrimp- was about to barf. It was kind of urgent, so I just barged in without permission."

"That's fine." Tanaka said, amused at the fact that she was apologetically explaining herself.

"You know each other, Tanaka?" Suga asked, quite interested in this girl considering the hotheaded baldy had just hit up a conversation with her so casually like that. He distantly wondered if Tanaka was aware that the person he was talking to, was in fact a girl.

"Hai, Suga-san. This is a second year like me-"

"Kawanishi Taiga. Nice to meet you." The girl bowed politely, to which Sugawara smiled and introduced himself back.

"Sugawara Koushi, nice to meet you. I'm the vice-captain of volleyball club." A bow, slightly higher than hers.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Kawanishi-san?"

"Um, I'm actually here to request something. My friend –she made an eye contact with Tanaka- and me, we had come to school to practice a bit, but that dummy actually forgot to bring balls. So I was wondering if it was possible for me to borrow a few from here and bring it back before morning practice ends? I will take full responsibility. I will tell you my class and number, too."

Sugawara was a polite and gentle person, an average setter, who didn't stand out too much. But 'not standing out' basically meant you had time and opportunity to observe other people. That's why he was very keen on catching on secrets, things people refrain from saying out loud or try to hide; in this case, something Tanaka knew about this girl's request but were hesitant to say it.

Another characteristic of Suga was that he could be unexpectedly meddlesome, especially when it came to those he considered close. Tanaka here was one of those people. So he thought he would see where this was going to go.

"Kawanishi-san, may I ask? Aren't you in girls' volleyball club?"

"No."

"But you play volleyball?"

"Yes."

"I see. I think it's quite rare to see someone who isn't a volleyball player coming to school so early for practice. Case in point, even some of our members have not arrived yet. You would be a great asset to the girl's team."

"Thanks, but I'm not a volleyball player." Taiga coldly declined.

Sugawara raised an eyebrow, her answer –no, the way she answered- piquing his interest further.

"What do you think, Tanaka? Since she is an acquaintance of yours, I'll let you decide."

"Uh, Suga-san, of course you can thrust Kawanishi-san."

"Is that so? Then OK, but we will be asking for your class and number, Kawanishi-san." Sugawara added kindly.

And with that, Tanaka and Kawanishi started walking towards the equipment room.

"So, Noya-san forgot to bring volleyballs, huh?" Tanaka asked in a low voice, seeing as Suga-san was no longer in earshot. "That's like him."

"You're not the one to talk, Tanaka. You are like Noya, too."

"Kawanishi-san, not fair."

Tanaka opened the door, to see Kageyama and Hinata placing the mops to their places and bickering at the same time. Ah, like Noya-san and Kawanishi-san weren't enough. He was really getting tired of constantly arguing pairs.

As soon as first-year duo saw Tanaka and Taiga coming in, they stopped fighting and the shorter underclassman beamed at the girl.

"Umm, thank you very much for earlier! Thanks to you, the floor didn't get dirty and we were saved from a lot of trouble and everything."

"No prob." Taiga answered.

"Now that you said it, how come you could be that quick to act, Kawanishi-san?" Tanaka asked to the girl.

"Well, that's because I vomited numerous times back in junior high, I can understand when one person is going to do so."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah." She snorted, along with Tanaka.

"Uh, so you are a volleyball player too? I though you were the manager! By the way, I'm Hinata Shoyo, first year." Hinata introduced himself, bowing deeply.

"Kawanishi Taiga, second year. I played volley in junior high and I'm just a by-passer."

"Oh, no! You were a senpai." he exclaimed, freaking out.

"It's fine, I don't mind." Taiga tried to ease him.

"She's right, you idiot. Calm down a little." Kageyama smacked Hinata on the head, starting another short bickering contest, which made Tanaka roll his eyes, before orange-head turned to Taiga again, with enthusiasm.

"Kawanishi-san, which position did you play? Libero?"

"Why?" Taiga asked, frowning. "Is it because I'm short?"

"Um, hai! Because all short players are always libero, other than myself." He admitted honestly, which made Taiga snort, "Listen Hinata. When you talk about libero, it is not a position you play because you're short. It's a position because you are a good receiver." *****

Hinata stood silent for a second and watched her with his wide brown eyes; then his face lit up, his eyes sparkled and his fists clenched as he shouted "Woah! Awesome! You know a lot about volleyball, Kawanishi-san!"

"I said, calm down idiot." Kageyama smacked him one more time.

And Taiga was laughing again.

"So, then if you aren't libero, which position?"

"No," she answered, "my official position was setter but my real specialty is pinch serving."

"Setter?" Kageyama immediately got interested, like a cat that just saw a ball of string. And Hinata shouted again, "Pinch server! And even though you're shorter than me! Woah! Awesome, awesome!"

Karasuno Volleyball Club was full of interesting guys.

* * *

"OK, settle down." English teacher Ono-sensei said sternly, as everyone started murmuring like the class was over after the last chapter from textbook was finished. There was only ten minutes left and Nishinoya couldn't wait it to be over. It was the second last class before lunch break and he was going to die of boredom if he didn't get up soon. Wait, what was this called again? Taiga was saying the other day; some fancy, complex name for 'lack of attention', from her boring books. Libero couldn't understand for the life of him how she could keep reading those.

"Now, before I dismiss you, I will hand out your quizzes from last week and we will answer the questions you failed mostly. Niitori Hotaru"

"Hai."

This was boring. He glanced at Taiga, who was calmly sitting down on her desk without a hint of being bored like him. He poked her with his pen and whispered.

"Oi, Taiga-chan!"

"What?"

"How are you?"

This meaningless and out-of-blue question pattern… Taiga rolled her eyes, "Are you bored again?"

"Hell yeah." He answered, happy that brunette girl was quick to understand his problem.

Now Taiga knew that, a bored Nishinoya Yuu usually ended up being more troublesome later, if he wasn't dealt with. So she glanced at the clock on the wall as she whispered, "There's only eight minutes left, bear with it?"

"I don't want to."

 _Oh._

Taiga pulled at her bangs as she asked in a resigned manner, "You wanna play SOS?"

Nishinoya smirked and waggled his eyebrows at her, "No, hangman."

The girl rolled her eyes.

Last time they had played hangman, they were using the words related to volleyball and Taiga had lost, failing on the word 'rolling thunder', which Nishinoya had then explained as one of his new receiving techniques.

And, yes, they were supposed to be high school students.

"Kawanishi Taiga."

Taiga stood up and walked over to teacher's desk. "Congratulations Kawanishi-san, you came first in this quiz."

"Thank you, sensei." She bowed rather indifferently and took a glance at her note while walking back to her seat, an 87 with a scrawled 'very good!' from Ono-sensei.

And Nishinoya was talking about it as they went towards rooftop to meet up with others –Taiga had been a permanent member of their lunch group after that first time-.

"Not only English though, now that I think about it, you always get higher notes compared to the rest of the class, in every subject."

"Not every one, I'm not very good at music." Taiga answered, earning a pointy look from Nishinoya for her sarcastic answer.

But then libero's brows rose slightly, a sign showing that he was in a thinking process. It was only occurring to him now but Taiga was pretty clever; her notes in quizzes were always above average, usually doubling Nishinoya's. She even hinted him about the sudden questions during class and she was reading freaking medical textbooks.

"How come you're not in advanced classes?" Nishinoya asked, his brows still raised.

He wished he hadn't asked. Because there was that look in her eyes again, not very distinguishable from normal at first, but very easy to see after hanging out with Taiga for a while. A look that said 'I'm carrying a burden.'

To be honest, it had been bothering Nishinoya for a while. Taiga was a great server, and from what libero could see –and contrary to popular belief, he could very well be observant when he wanted to- she liked volleyball. Well, a perfect serve wasn't something you could pull of without strict training and strict training wasn't something you could manage in an area you didn't like, period.

But more importantly, there were times, when playing volleyball, the aggressive air around her changed into something milder; and there was a genuine smile that reached all the way to her eyes.

Nishinoya didn't even know she had a smile like that until he saw it first time, so he used to think that she was just cranky. But now he knew that she was once was a happy girl who could flash pretty smiles. He was genuinely curious about the reason, and how it was related to her volleyball career.

But when Nishinoya asked about why did she quit volleyball, she always evaded the question.

There were times when she was off her game. She would wince or hiss slightly, trying to hide it but Nishinoya was well aware of her shoulders hurting. When he asked about that, too, she would slid around, telling things like "Are you getting soft, worrying about me?" or "Mind your own business."

And it inquired the libero. Because _that_ look in her eyes, bore a slight resemblance to someone else.

About a month ago, when Nishinoya had confronted their ace about quitting the club, Asahi's eyes were the same. Well, not exactly the same. Taiga's gaze was much stronger and much more enigmatic.

After a second, as all these thoughts passed from Nishinoya's mind, the girl answered his question matter-of-factly.

"I have a disciplinary penalty in my record. According to rules, a student like that can't enter an advanced class."

This only served to further his curiosity. But also, it made Nishinoya a bit excited. Was it weird to be excited about something like this?

"What did you do to get a disciplinary punishment?"

"Broke another student's nose." Taiga answered dryly.

To be honest, this wasn't something she was proud of and well, it had made her a lot of enemies back in her old school. So she was only slightly anxious as she watched Nishinoya's reaction with the corner of her eye. Libero stopped and looked at Taiga's eyes. OK, forget slightly anxious, she was panicking a bit now. Nishinoya wouldn't make a big deal out of this, would he?

"Taiga-chan, that's cool."

A lopsided smile touched her lips.

* * *

Taiga breathed in and out, and then opened her eyes with a resolve; a resolve to hit a service that will result in a point. She took in the sight before her, receiver's position, his stance, the space between his feet, the way he held out his forearms.

Nishinoya, who stood on the other side of the net, caught her eyes and couldn't help but smirk at her great concentration. What kind of serve was she going to hit this time; a fast drive serve, or a spike serve? Or was she going to use a ceiling serve and drop the ball just over the net? Libero licked his lips just like a predator with the anticipation of a prey.

Taiga tossed the ball up and away from herself, used a few steps to accelerate first, then swung her arms from back to front to jump higher. Her figure made an arc in the air so that she relayed her whole body's strength to the ball as she hit it. Her palm made perfect contact with the ball, like parts of a jigsaw puzzle.

Nishinoya received it but couldn't get it back to setter's position. She always added a spin that made the ball hard to receive, especially when combined with power. Every time, he was left impressed with how great her technique was.

"Che."

But also, it was late and dark, making it hard to see the ball, one of the reasons he couldn't receive it perfectly.

Taiga smirked at him with triumph and Nishinoya huffed "Once more, damn it! I will get the next one."

"Hey, come on, we are wrapping it!" Taiga objected.

It was definitely getting late, libero was starting to feel tired and there was also the journey back home to worry about. But there was another thing Nishinoya had been thinking for a while and he thought now was a good time to do it.

Now that there was little time left until Nishinoya was allowed back into the club, he really needed to come to terms with his own problems, problems involving an ace named Azumane Asahi.

Libero thought that, if he heard Taiga's story, the reason she quitted the volleyball when she still clearly likes it and is skilled at it, maybe then he could relate to Asahi a little bit and _maybe_ not knock over someone/something when he spoke to him again.

"Ok, let's just do ten more then." He suggested.

Taiga considered it for a short while, and seemingly decided that it was fair since she agreed with an "Alright" and started walking to back line.

"Say, Taiga-chan?"

"What?"

He received the ball she sent his way; it reached above the imaginary setter's head perfectly. He took a breath.

"Why did you choose to become a pinch server?"

She chuckled.

"Pinch server is the coolest position."

"No, it's libero. Besides pinch server isn't even an official position." He pointed, knowing fully well that it would rile the girl.

Taiga frowned slightly, but her eyes didn't show anger towards him.

"Even if it isn't an official position, for me, it's the greatest position. Because I don't have to worry about receiving, I don't have to worry about blocks. A service ace is the simplest and most effective way of scoring a point. And even if I don't get an ace, I can create an opportunity for my teammates just by hitting a strong and precise serve! When my friends need that opportunity the most. If I can break the other team's formation with my serve, it makes the job easier for the receiver. And an ideal receive means a strong attack from our team! It's how you get a break, you idiot!"

She hit the ball again, and after receiving it, Nishinoya fixed his stare at her.

"You like volleyball so much, after all." he said in a low voice, his eyes never leaving her. "Why did you give up on something you like so much?"

Under his stare, Taiga felt oddly exposed, like a kid that was being interrogated by her parents; and she frowned with frustration.

"I already told you right? Not your business."

She sent another serve his way, but her concentration was dropped and he easily received it before speaking up again.

"Are you running away from the question? Why is it so hard to answer?"

"Because it's not you business!"

The ball she served next hit the net with great speed and spun several seconds before falling on floor.

"In the end you are a wimp too; giving up on the sport you like because of some reason you cannot even confess." Nishinoya challenged her. Like that person, she was making the libero angry.

Taiga's frown deepened and as he met her angry gaze, Nishinoya remembered the first time they met. In the first time too, like now, he was curious as to whether stood before him was a girl or a tiger, with the intensity that hit him.

"Don't talk like you know me." Taiga said as she dropped the ball she was holding and turned her back, walking away. Nishinoya followed after.

"Then tell me so I know!" He said, catching up and grabbing her by the elbow. Taiga hissed as the sudden pull caused a sting in her shoulder; to which Nishinoya caught on and stared at her shoulder.

"Your shoulders hurt, don't they?" the boy asked her.

"It doesn't concern you! Let go."

"But it **does** concern me. I need to know why someone like you quits volleyball, why someone who likes a sport quits it!" Nishinoya shouted.

 _Let go, I can't tell you._

Taiga tried to throw him off by tripping him to fall down on his back, using a refined martial arts move. But Nishinoya knew enough to guess that she would resort to force in this situation when she was being pressured. So instead of trying to step away from her as she grabbed his sides, he kept holding onto her arm, while grabbing a fistful of her baggy t-shirt. It caused Taiga to lose her balance as well and fall on top of him in the end. But even after the fall he didn't let go. Their faces stood a couple of inches apart, both of them looking at the other with anger. Taiga was using her left arm, the one he wasn't holding, to support herself.

"I know you can do hand to hand combat. But if I cling onto you like this, it doesn't work right?" Nishinoya managed to give a triumphant grin in that situation. But he was right and to Taiga's chagrin, he had totally got her.

So there was no choice for her other than to accept the situation and ask: "Why do you want to know the reason I quitted so badly?"

Nishinoya frowned then, his eyes hardening slightly and triumphant grin fading away, giving Taiga an idea about how heavy this topic was to him.

"Asahi-senpai, our ace, he quitted volleyball, after our team was defeated bitterly in a match. He thinks it's his fault. It was the reason why I quarreled with him and got suspended. But just like you, I know he still loves volleyball." Nishinoya explained without looking at her. "I can't understand him. But maybe if I did understood... Then I can move on. But if I can't, our team might break apart. I may never be able to convince him to come back. And if he doesn't, then I won't go back either."

Nishinoya jerked up as he felt something wet on his face. Then his eyes widened when he realized the source of it. Tears dropped from Taiga's eyes and slide down her cheeks before falling on his face.

She just couldn't take it anymore. He was such a great person. The way he refused to let his friend go away, the way he searched for ways to make him come back, the way he practiced so hard with her on top of the block-follow training, just to be able to connect his team; his willpower had touched something inside her.

Everyone would be lucky to have Nishinoya as a teammate and a friend.

And yet, if she were to tell him the truth about herself, he would surely go away from her.

Taking advantage of the fact that Nishinoya was freaking out at her tears, thus had let go of her clothing; she slowly got off of him.

"Taiga, hey, um, uh, w- w- why are you crying? Hey, I'm sorry, please hit me once."

"Don't raise a fuss." She sighed in a low voice, sitting Indian style across him.

"I…" she started. "It's still difficult for me to tell, Nishinoya."

Libero silently noted her using his full name, instead of just saying Noya like she usually did. He also noted that her eyes were downcast and hidden from him; and that she was so still suddenly, like a still puddle of water instead of the streaming river she was.

"Two years before now, there was an a-accident during practice in my middle school's volleyball club. After that, I had a car crush and my shoulders broke down. Just don't ask me about the accident or how it happened." She grabbed her right shoulder with her left hand, never looking at him. "After the crush, my body healed physically but something lingered behind. Do you know anything about psychosomatic disorders?"

Nishinoya shook his head but when it occurred to him that she wasn't looking at him, he answered with a soft "No."

"It's a disorder where mind affects body." Taiga explained, "For me, anything that reminds me of that accident and volleyball, causes my shoulders to hurt. That's the reason I cannot play volleyball, nor I want to, because of this excruciating pain."

Nishinoya's eyes widened. In disbelief, he asked "But all this time…"

Taiga cut him off, looking up but still not meeting his eyes, "During that three-on-three, I don't know how but I was able to play, while my shoulders still hurt. And when I practice with you, I can manage. It's all about mind, I guess. But if I'm unstable like this, I will make trouble for everyone and I can't be in a team. And most of the time, I just can't play."

After this, both of them didn't speak for a while; Taiga was in a state of 'nothing left to tell' and waiting for Nishinoya's reaction. And Nishinoya was speechless.

Taiga had been hurting all this time. She was in physical and most likely mental pain. And Nishinoya had made her indulge his wishes, being selfishly insistent. He had never even considered she could have a situation and even had gone far as to think she was a coward to have quitted volleyball.

"Taiga, I- then why didn't you tell me sooner?" he frowned.

"Are you a complete idiot? I tried to refuse it repeatedly."

Normally Nishinoya would talk back at her insult and they would start the usual banter, but now he was just taken aback and feeling guilty. Even the real reason he started all this, Asahi senpai's case had flew out of his mind. He was absolutely starting to freak out.

Then, a hand entered his field of vision out of nowhere, grabbing his collar. He found himself looking at Taiga. She was on her feet but slightly bent over him so she could look at his eyes; he was on his knees thanks to Taiga pulling him up from the sitting position. The skin around her eyes was slightly red because of her earlier teary outburst, but her stare was decisive and stern, daring him to disagree with her.

"You should see your face, idiot. What, are you taking a pity on me now? If you do that, I will never forgive you, Nishinoya!"

"I'm not." He said. "I'm not pitying you."

"Don't feel sad for me either!" she kept shouting fervently.

"OK" Nishinoya said.

"Trying to be considerate of a person who has resolved oneself is the biggest insult to them."

"I know." Nishinoya said, not finding it in himself to say more.

He closed his eyes.

She was right. He was so angry with himself, damn it! Obviously, Taiga would be sick of people pitying her, like the situation at hand wasn't difficult as it was. Especially that headstrong Taiga would never accept pity or consideration.

She just wanted to be normal as she can and Nishinoya had been treating her that way, until now. Maybe it was the reason she had accepted to help him about practice. Nishinoya resolved himself to keep treating her normally, as her friend and he opened her eyes again.

Taiga let go of his collar, sitting back.

"Now tell me about your ace in detail."

Taiga guessed that the Asahi-senpai Nishinoya was talking about was probably the one she had met the other day. That would explain his weird face and his sad eyes when she unknowingly had told about libero to him.

Nishinoya started speaking and he told her everything; the iron wall of block, the team's sadness, his own frustration of his powerlessness, his fight with Asahi-senpai after the match and the confrontation in the third years corridor.

"And hence you were so desperate about practicing so hard, trying to get better." Taiga mumbled as Nishinoya came to a stop. He was really incredible, Taiga thought. He was simply unable to sit around when it came to his job as a libero, not satisfied with just practicing with women's team in Karasuno Gymnasium for block-follows, but making sure he also got practice in school.

"That goes without saying." he nodded. "What is the point of being a libero if your teammates cannot entrust their backs to you?"

Taiga let out a small smile. "You're right. But I don't think the problem is about you, in this case." She pointed out.

Now they were walking down the street; Sakanoshita shoten was long closed and there was not a single soul around them. Moonlight and street-lamps lit their path, a dog howled somewhere; making Nishinoya distantly wonder just how much time had passed while they had been having their respective breakdowns.

"Everyone has their own reasons for playing or quitting volleyball. And those who can come back, will come back." Taiga kept talking.

Nishinoya turned her words over and over in his mind. He wasn't really satisfied, after all; he still wanted Asahi-senpai to return to club and was frustrated with the fact that the ace was reluctant to fight with his teammates.

"But I think, Asahi-senpai will be able to come back." Taiga said smiling to herself. Or course, Nishinoya didn't know but, that day, Asahi's face had told Taiga all she needed to know: The third year was missing his teammates as much as he was missed.

"I hope you're right." Nishinoya only mumbled.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 ***** : When Nishinoya asks Hinata the reason he thinks Nishinoya is a libero and is it because of his height, Hinata answers this and Nishinoya states taht he understands what it means to be a libero very well. But this is because Hinata learned it from Taiga, at least according to my story :D

So how was it?

I was kind of self cautious about the whole Nishinoya-Taiga emotional breakdown scene. So please tell me what you think :)


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